The Himachal Pradesh High Court recently took action in response to a petition filed against Kangana Ranaut, who represents the BJP in the Lok Sabha from Mandi. The petition was filed by a resident of Kinnaur, claiming that his nomination papers to contest in the Lok Sabha elections were unfairly rejected. Justice Jyotsna Rewal, overseeing the case, has instructed Ranaut to submit a reply by August 21.

Kangana Ranaut had emerged victorious in the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, defeating her main rival, Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, by a substantial margin of 74,755 votes. She garnered 5,37,002 votes, compared to Singh’s 4,62,267 votes. The petitioner officer, Layak Ram Negi, argued that his nomination papers were wrongly turned down by the returning officer, who is the Deputy Commissioner of Mandi, and named him as a party in the case.

Negi, a former employee of the forest department, mentioned that he had retired early and had provided a “no dues certificate” from the department along with his nomination papers to the returning officer. However, he was asked to produce similar certificates from the electricity, water, and telephone departments within a day. Despite submitting these certificates, the returning officer refused to accept them and rejected Negi’s nomination papers.

Negi contended that if his nomination papers had been accepted, he could have potentially won the election. Therefore, he requested the court nullify Kangana Ranaut’s election victory on the grounds of the rejection of his nomination papers.